NBA draft: Local products go in first round
Fultz goes No. 1; Rockets add 7-footer, trade the other pick
The picks came largely as expected, with Washington guard Markelle Fultz going first, the top selections of the NBA draft coming with few surprises and the Rockets remaining quiet until taking Isaiah Hartenstein with the 43rd pick.
Hartenstein has often drawn comparisons to Donatas Motiejunas as a 7-foot lefty who shoots well, was a pro in Europe, is represented by B.J. Armstrong and has a back issue to monitor. But he was considered a first-round prospect who slipped enough for the Rockets to take in the middle of the second.
The Rockets took Oregon guard Dillon Brooks with the 45th pick. But with the roster loaded with young prospects to develop, the Rockets traded the pick to Memphis for a future second-round pick, a
person with knowledge of the deal said.
Little about the Rockets’ draft came as a surprise, as with much of the first round. But the NBA reliably comes up with stunners this time of year, and apparently, especially this season.
As Fultz was selected Thursday, the Chicago Bulls dealt All-Star Jimmy Butler to Minnesota, reuniting Butler with former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. The Bulls sent him to the Timberwolves with the 16th pick for dunk champion Zach LaVine, last season’s top Minnesota pick Kris Dunn and the seventh pick of the draft.
Butler joining Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns should impact the Western Conference playoff race. It did not change much about the draft order.
As expected since Philadelphia and Boston recently exchanged first-round picks, the 76ers made Fultz perhaps the last major step in their rebuilding process.
With the Sixers giving up one of the prized draft picks they had collected to move up from the third spot, Fultz joins last season’s top pick, Ben Simmons, center Joel Embiid and rookie of the year contender Dario Saric, with chants of “Trust the Process” welcoming him before the pick was announced.
“Once I heard my name called, it was like God calling me,” Fultz said. “I wanted to be the No. 1 player in the country and the No. 1 draft pick, so it was a goal I set out there, and that’s what I was striving for. “
Nearly equally predictable, UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball became the second pick, and the first pick of the Magic Johnson-Rob Pelinka era running the Los Angeles Lakers.
“It’s crazy,” Ball said of playing point guard for Johnson. “I couldn’t ask for anything more.
“Just everything he’s going to teach me is going to be useful. Obviously, he’s the best point guard to ever play, so I’m looking to go in there and just learn from day one. He’s one of the best to ever do it. There’s never going to be another Magic Johnson, so I’m trying to be myself.”
The Celtics chose Duke’s Jayson Tatum with the third pick, but it was unclear whether they had taken him for their roster or as part of the ongoing pursuit of Indiana’s Paul George, as the teams calling the Pacers, including the Rockets, did not have the success the Timberwolves did in their pursuit of Butler.
That left Kansas’ Josh Jackson for Phoenix at No. 4, giving the Suns four players — with Marquese Chriss, Dragan Bender and Devin Booker — 20 or younger.
“I love proving people wrong,” Jackson said. “And those teams who didn’t draft me, one day they will be sorry.”
That dropped Kentucky’s De’Aaron Fox from Cypress Lakes High School to the Sacramento Kings at No. 5.
“I know it’s going to be tough to change a team, but for me I wanted to come in and be able to affect the game right away,” Fox said. “A lot of people say I could be a franchise changer, and that’s what I really want to be.”
That completed a run of five freshmen to start the draft before a big man, Florida State’s 6-10 Jonathan Isaac went to Orlando. After the Timberwolves took Lauri Markkanen for the Bulls, the New York Knicks took France’s Frank Ntilikina and Dallas picked North Carolina State’s Dennis Smith, meaning five point guards were taken in the first nine picks.
Sacramento and Portland completed the second trade of the first round with the Kings moving the 10th pick to the Trail Blazers for the 15th and 20th picks and the Blazers choosing Gonzaga freshman Zach Collins with the 10th pick.
To complete the lottery, Malik Monk went to Charlotte, Luke Kennard to Detroit, Donovan Mitchell to Utah (in a deal with the Nuggets) and Bam Adebayo to Miami. Adebayo was the third Kentucky player taken in the lottery.
North Carolina swingman Justin Jackson of Tomball was the 15th pick, going to Sacramento with the pick the Kings had acquired from Portland. That put Jackson and Fox, former AAU Houston Hoops teammates, together with the Kings.